# Does Britain’s defence plan make it NATO’s weak link? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-general-the-journalist-7337304/does-britain-s-defence-plan-make-it-nato-s-weak-link Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-general-the-journalist-7337304/does-britain-s-defence-plan-make-it-nato-s-weak-link.md Podcast: [The General & The Journalist](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-general-the-journalist-7337304) Published: 2026-07-01T12:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/times-war/episodes/does-britains-defence-plan-make-it-natos-weak-link Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6825a844b1b74cbbae73d5a8/e/6a44f148e80d75fcb861cd59/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-general-the-journalist-7337304/episodes/does-britain-s-defence-plan-make-it-nato-s-weak-link Duration seconds: 2314 ## Resource Britain says its long-awaited Defence Investment Plan will strengthen its role in NATO. But after months of delays, funding rows and warnings from allies, does the money go far enough?  Admiral Sir Keith Blount, the former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe at NATO, joins Tom and Patrick to assess what the plan gets right, where it falls short and why Britain risks losing influence in the alliance if it fails to deliver.  As NATO leaders prepare to gather in Ankara next week – with Russia threatening Europe, Donald Trump demanding more from the alliance, and countries such as Poland, Denmark and Germany moving faster on defence – is Britain still leading NATO or falling behind?  Do you think the government has sufficiently funded UK defence? Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk Guest: Admiral Sir Keith Blount, former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe to NATO Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn Producer: Julia Webster Executive producer : Priyanka Deladia  Image: Getty, Dana Chan Clips: Reuters, Forbes, Sky Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-general-the-journalist-7337304/episodes/does-britain-s-defence-plan-make-it-nato-s-weak-link/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-general-the-journalist-7337304/does-britain-s-defence-plan-make-it-nato-s-weak-link.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.